Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Here is a different take on word play, a collaboration of mine with my friend, Cliff. He and I are working on a book project together, which consists entirely of word puzzles. This cartoon is not part of it, however. More on that as it develops.

By "cliched and arrogant" one presumes you mean "accurate and valid", given the south's record on GWB, having Confederate flags flying over state capitol buildings and insistence on posting the Decalogue pretty much everywhere.

I am compelled to point out that your judging by the mustache, cartoon appears to be from the 1800s. But the Teddy Bear didn't come about until shortly after Pres. Theodore Roosevelt's 1902 bear "hunt."

Dan, your cartoons are so funny and witty, yet your commentary is always so hateful. What's the deal? I seem to remember from the history I've read and have experienced from my travels frankly not any different attitudes anywhere else in America than are in the south. Let's talk about corruption in Illinois politics, the history of slavery which was national (not southern) (and was an issue used by Lincoln to help him towards an end, not THE issue, as most people think), corrupt and disreputable congressmen from all over the nation, Elliot Spitzer, Sarah Palin, the fact that California elected Arnold Schwarzenegger (and had to do so as a replacement for an even worse governer), and on and on and on. Why denegrate the south so? It's equal opportunity idiocracy. But that seems to be your way--demean the south, obese people, etc.--while you chomp on a cigar and try to overcome alcoholism. Have a heart!

Yes, I am hard on the south, probably because I was raised there and know the worst side of it. I don't mean to say that all southerners are stupid. I still have a lot of friends down there. And you are right, there is not shortage of ignorance in any state. The Neo-Cons built their recently-deceased empire by fooling rubes all over the nation, not just the south. But while most of the country caught on after 8 years, the south continues to charge down that path. I don't think it is coincidence.

Dan, while I can see your position, I don't see the point in attacking people simply because of how they voted. It's okay to disagree with them and to say you think they made the wrong choice, but I wouldn't insult or belittle anyone just because they voted for a candidate I didn't like. If that was the case, I'd be bashing everyone who voted for McCain and Obama, and I don't have the energy to lash out at 125 million people.

Josh,I don't think that all people who have voted Republican in the last few elections are stupid. Far from it. If a person knows what the Republican party stands for and what to expect from their administration and chooses to vote for them, they're not stupid. It's just that the Republicans benefit such a very small percentage of Americans that they could not possibly win an election without convincing many millions of others that they stand for things they don't. Those are the ones I think have been duped.

I don't know where to post this, but I'll put it here because it's about your cartoon that appeared in the paper on this day.

I was wondering what inspired you to do the "Jewish Chinese-American" cartoon? I'm interested in everything related to mixed-race identity (especially half-Asians), so I was surprised to see it in a comic strip, and became very curious.